Finally, here is my report on the Zoo run.
Well, our day started in the dark and cold with pouring rain --- luckily it got light and cleared pretty quickly, within 10 minutes after we got on the road, because Petra was threatening to drive 60KPH all the way to the run. At that rate, we wouldn't have got there on time!
Arrived at 8:30, picked up our race packages. This must be the year of the bright coloured shirts as we got a really bright yellow one. Stood in line for the port-a-potties - good thing too because after that the line ups got REALLY long! I still can't understand people (in this case men) who feel they should sit in the port-a-potty for ten minutes and contemplate life!! Anyhow, got into the starting area and met a new Running Mania friend, Annette and her friend Catherine. We got a group photo taken by another nice runner before we started out.
We are: Annette, Catherine, Heather, Cathy, Petra, Jane and Stacey.
It was FREEZING but good running weather though! By the time we were a couple of kms into the run, my hoodie was off and tied around my waist. It was very crowded and we seemed to dodge other runners the whole race. I ended up with Petra, Heather and Stacey were together and Cathy ran with Tracy.
The run was hilly - the same as it was last year. Lots of curves and loops around too. At 5K Petra and I were at 31 min. Guess we wouldn't be breaking our time from last year which was 59:50 or something like that (I can't find last year's results but know it was JUST under an hour).
There were only two water stations and we walked through them. At about 7.5K I got a charlie horse in my right calf! OW, OW, OW that hurt! I had actually had one in the van on the way down too. Petra asked if I wanted to walk and I said NO. I still had hopes we would beat last year's time, even though I had said I was just going out to run for fun. This seems to be a trend for me at the Zoo run as I said the same thing last year. Either that or Petra just makes me want to run as hard as I can. Not that either of us are competitive (we aren't because we weren't trying to beat each other!). Anyhow I tried drinking alot of my cytomax - thinking my charlie horse could be dehydration. Maybe it was, who knows? Anyhow, I kept going and it didn't get any worse. My heart rate was about 173 for most of the race -- those hills really play havoc with the old heart rate.
We passed a whole lot of people throughout the race, right up to the very end. You can hear the finish line for the last km or two and you keep thinking you are going to get there and then you don't. Finally, we heard them saying, if you want to finish in under an hour, you better hurry! Hmmm, this was like deja vu, exactly the same as last year. After I hurt my calf I had told Petra I didn't think I could sprint at the end, but I managed to. And we finished in under an hour again! Took about a minute off last year's time. Even though we came over the finish line together, Petra beat me by half a second! She must have started a half second behind me or something.
821 0:59:37.8 5:58 0:58:47.4 440 CLEMENT, JANE TRENTON 336/1059 36/87 Women 45 - 49
I am pretty happy with my performance for my last race in this age group. Not a PB (I had this crazy race about four years ago when I was doing speed training and actually ran a 10K in just under 53 minutes :shock: and don't expect to be doing THAT again anytime soon). But still respectable for an old girl.
And I managed to get a photo of Heather and Stacey coming over the finish line in 1:01.32 which is a great time for this race.
The first thing Heather said to me was "You told me it wasn't ALL that hilly!"
Sorry Heather.... Then it was off to Costco to eat free samples, drop a bunch of cash and to Tim's for a bite to eat before heading home....
Another great day -- what more can I say??
